Hello all, this is my first ever cross-over fic, I hope you enjoy it! feel free to ask questions and leave feedback! ~Cosmo

Zipping through the sky, Danny felt the heat of a plasma blast barely graze his cheek. He was seriously not in the mood for this. He had Lancer's creative writing period to look forward to already.

Actually, they both did!

Danny flipping onto his back to address Valerie to her face yelled, "DON'T YOU HAVE SOMEWHERE TO BE," then thinking quickly he added, "KID?"

He continued to berate Grey, "I'm dead and I have all the time in the world! Are you so into me that you cleared your whole day planner?"

The response that followed was three more blasts from her plasma rifle. The phantom figured he deserved that.

"There's nothing that will stop me from kicking your sorry behind back into the afterlife!" Val screamed.

What was supposed to be a rather routine Box Ghost apprehension turned into a spiral that attracted not only the likes of Valerie Grey but also Skulker— the ghost zone's model of a huntsman.

He rounded the corner zigzagging through a clutch of apartment buildings, "hey at least my death is more eventful than your social life!" Fenton quipped again.

Perhaps Danny was being more vicious in his insults today because he truly did not like fighting Valerie at all. He had grown exhausted of trying to justify and explain. All she wanted was for him to hurt for what he did to her father. A now humiliated scientist. For the ghost, it sometimes felt like she had it easy, at least her dad had a reputation to destroy— unlike the Fentons.

She was his friend on more than one occasion— and his almost more than a friend. It wasn't like he had his heart torn out by her, but they, unfortunately, both lived in parallel. What they wanted… just wasn't possible.

Every time he saw her dawning her helmet, Danny couldn't help but think of how he led her here. Through his own mistakes, he put her here, and he's going to pay for it as long as he had his powers. As long as he had the will to stand up for others. Valerie was just too blind to see that in the end, they both wanted the same things… perhaps he was just too naive to think that people had enough ability to dive deeper within themselves. He couldn't help to try and view himself through the reflective surface of her visor.

What did she see him as?

It didn't matter— Val needed him to hurt.

Being uncharacteristically silent for one of their usual run-ins, he glanced under his arm to see if she was still chasing him.

Slamming himself chest first into the sharp pointy end of Valerie's hoverboard. His tangible body caught itself against the metal the momentum of flight still sending his feet pitifully forwards. That was certain to leave a bruise. He could've sworn he felt his sternum vibrating.

Somehow she had cut him off and went around in front of him.

"Actually Ghost-boy, would you believe I just caught myself a date?" She growled menacingly, wrapping her fist into his collar.

"Please don't say you have a date with Justice because then we've gone full comic book."

A looming voice had pierced its way through both of their ears, "Well well, we have the predator, and we have the prey…"

Danny cocked an eyebrow, "are you using predator in the plural sense? Because she's been kicking my butt longer than you ever have!"

Skulker suddenly appeared floating above them in the sky, hand on his wrist panel toggling his tangibility cloak.

Valerie quickly spun a laser pistol from her belt— mercilessly firing a beam through Skulker's jet pack wings.

Skulker's whole body began to jut forward and back as any control he had over his flight pattern was deflating. The balance that was achieved by the twin jets sputtered out like a whimper— Skulker was then sent in another direction yelling out for help.

Blowing the steam from her pistol Grey chuckled, "So, where were we ghost boy?"

Danny tried to activate his intangibility only for Valerie's gloves emit sparks of electricity— he screamed in pain, kicking his legs futilely.

Trying to maintain the illusion of confidence he chuckled, "Well… clearly, we weren't at the part of my daring escape, tell me, are the gloves new?"

She spoke through gritted teeth in a low growl, "I'd like to say it's been fun—"

"Glad we're on the same page."

"Goodbye ghost boy!" She pointed the laser pistol to his chest.

The barrel pressed into him— she wasn't going to miss this time.

He felt no need to close his eyes despite being in mortal danger, he just stared at her. Almost daring her to do it. Valerie didn't have the guts. All talk. That suit wasn't filled with a human being, but bussing words and vague threats. No bite.

Out of nowhere—

"You mind if I cut in?" The voice dotted his question mark with a sword being launched through the air and landing into the brick wall. Aim impeccable. The sword had sliced the space between Danny and Valerie's faces. The hilt blocked them from seeing each other's eyes. The only sound to be heard… the quiet hum of the hoverboard. Danny tried adjusting his head within Val's tight grasp

The pair glanced up to the rooftop parallel to them. A figure cloaked in a dark suit that inhaled the light. A scarlet scarf fluttered in the autumn breeze.

The scarf barked to Val, "Hey, he's mine."

"That's funny," Grey sneered through the mask, "I don't see your name on him!" She pointed the gun to the figure, "Why don't you move along? I think an alternative store is missing their mascot."

"Ouch wicked burn there, Salmon."

Danny feeling a bit like the third wheel piped up, "Uh sorry, do you have friends outside of me?"

No longer asking questions Valerie took her shot. Before the beam could reach her target, the figure pulled something out of his pocket before throwing it on the ground.

"Smoke bomb!"

Black billows of smoke with pink sparks flickering in the burnout. The beam cut through a cloud, not colliding with anything but the vapor.

"Where did he…?" Valerie asked no one, voice slightly wavering.

Another question floated into the air, "So did you get my joke? I feel like you guys missed my joke."

Valerie screamed, dropping Danny. He fell for a few seconds before remembering that he could indeed fly… then he slowly rose back up. The phantom was also curious to see where this was going.

the figure was now sitting on the blade he had stabbed into the brick wall, "Hey."

Valerie swiftly pulled out another pistol pointing one at the figure and one in the bridge of Danny's nose.

Danny retaliated by forming an energy ball with his pointer finger, aiming his right hand at Val, then aiming his left at the figure.

"Wow, call this every party I've ever attended because I'm overdressed," the stranger cackled overdramatically, removing a chain sickle and shuriken from his belt. The chains rattled and clinked together minimally as the stranger whipped them up in windmill.

Eyebrows furrowing, the Phantom felt his eyes ache as they lit up furiously— he just wanted to get to class, granted he hated saying it. But that was the only thing he set out to do today and that was to complete Mr. Lancer's stupid poetry assignment! Danny mumbled, "I believe this is called an impasse kiddos."

Valerie's weapons could be heard charging with a sharp automatic ping, "I concur."

Tension swam around them as eyes passed to eyes, glances to each of their hands. No one was trembling, they all possessed the confidence in their abilities to school each other. One of them had to move, someone had to light that fuse. Something had to give way. Though they all remained as still as statues in a graveyard.

"HEY!" The window of the building opened and an angry woman began to whisper scream at all three of them, "My kid is trying to sleep, SO IT WOULD MEAN A LOT IF YOU THREE TOOK A HIKE TO THE LOCAL FREAK CONVENTION!"

The three students put away their weapons, bowing profusely apologizing.

"You," the woman scolded," Invisobill this is why everyone thinks you're annoying! Being a big nuisance! JUST GO TOWARDS THE LIGHT, IDIOT!"

The mother began to go pink in the face, as she set her sights on Grey, "Hunter girl why don't you go solve actual crimes?! Jesus Christ our only problems in this town are crazed ghost hunting fiends like you tearing up the skies with your tortured backstories!"

Leaning further out of the window she pointed to the stranger who now looked very sheepish nearly dropping the chain as he was slowing its spin " And you…" she trailed off, "I DON'T KNOW WHO THE HELL YOU ARE, BUT YOUR SWORD IS THROUGH MY CUPBOARD!"

"IF YOU KIDS AREN'T OUT OF HERE IN THE NEXT FIVE MINUTES I WILL CALL THE POLICE… and if my kid wakes up, I'll kill you all myself." With her tirade concluded she slammed her window shut.

Disappearing in an instant with the snap of his fingers, Danny bid the both of them farewell, "To be continued, nerds."

The stranger queried absentmindedly, "Can you kill ghosts twice?"

"WHY DON'T YOU FIND OUT?!" Valerie pointed both plasma guns at the stranger, her visor now reflecting not a new target but a new problem.

The stranger jostled the chain sickle in his hand, "you know you guys are pretty fun, I don't actually get a rise out of my usual gallery."

"Excuse me?!"

Recovering from his sudden detour, Skulker swung back in the fray, blocking out the rising sun. A shadow was now cast on the two budding rivals. Suddenly Valerie could barely see the stranger at all, the black suit became indistinguishable from the brick wall.

"WAIT! Where's that ghost child?! I can't sense him." Skulker announced in a demand, awash in total befuddlement.

The chains could still be heard rattling. Two black lines appeared in the sky, leashing Skulker in place. The chains wormed and snaked around Skulker's robotic body. Wrapping around his neck and shoulders— he was yanked forward as the stranger swung up and round Skulker, adding another loop in the chain necklace.

The stranger kept Skulker saddled with the makeshift leash, he twisted his end of the reign around his fist. The stranger punched in a direction causing Skulker to writhe and turn to the north. The stranger haughtily cocked his head stepping on Skulker's face, "thanks for the lift, gruesome."

Grey cupped a hand over her mouth and shouted until she was out of breath, "THIS IS NOT OVER!"

"Oh trust me," the stranger declared, "I'm eagerly looking forward to the conclusion, Salmon."

Hands falling to her side Grey sighed, the sun once again was on her skin as the stranger flew off on Skulker's body. She felt warm from both the light and her unyielding rage.

The sword had left a hole in the apartment building wall, it was now a reminder to Valerie to always take the shot. She struck the wall causing a puff of dust to exhale from the bricks. Hand stinging behind her gloves, from the inside Val could faintly hear a baby hiccup and then break into a full-on wail.

Hastily backing away, Grey barely kept her balance on her board before rushing off to school.

—

Danny picked at the peas on his lunch tray, "I'm telling you guys there is a new ghost hunter."

Tucker looked up from his PDA, "I didn't say I didn't believe you, but that wasn't a regular old ghost hunter. What ghost hunter uses a sword?"

"I don't know," Danny admitted, placing his chin into his hand. It did seem very impractical considering that most ghosts phased through objects. But he pointed at Tucker, offering, "Well my parents would… specifically my mom… my mom would totally make a ghost hunting a sword."

Chewing a forkful of salad Sam rolled her eyes, "That's not a sword nitwits."

Danny glanced at Tucker, and Tucker glanced back at Danny. They didn't know what exactly she was getting at, it had a large blade coming out of a pommel— it seemed very sword-like.

"C'mon Tuck, you watch unhealthy amounts of anime— and you can't recognize a Ninjato?" She sighed, enhancing the image on the PDA with the stylus.

Foley smacked her hand away from his precious baby, "Watch the goods, Manson!"

"See? Look, the top of the blade doesn't end in a point like a traditional European sword."

Danny scratched the back of his head," okay but then wouldn't it be a katana?"

"Oh my god," Manson snorted, "not every Asian blade is a katana!"

Foley joked, "That's very swordist of you Danny."

Frustratedly Danny balanced the plastic fork between his fingers and began beating the prongs on the table, "So all we know about his guy is that he uses a fancy sword—"

Tucker and Sam gave him a knowing glance.

He corrected, "Ninjato, we know he uses some fancy Ninjato." He threw up his hand, "That still doesn't tell us a lot."

"Actually if either of you two had let me finish I know who you fought Danny." Tucker then zoomed out the image on his device, then turning for Fenton's review.

"You do?" Danny questioned incredulously.

"Rule one of being friends with Tucker Foley: Do not doubt Tucker Foley." He grinned smugly, "This guy in the picture matches what you've been telling us, this is him— the Norrisville Ninja."

Danny stared at the familiar costume in the photo. It shouldn't have been this easy— because it never was this easy.

There was a crowd of people in the adulation of this supposed hero. Yet what possible reason could a 'ninja' be chasing after ghosts? He couldn't help but think of Valerie, did he somehow in some parallel way perform a slight against this guy? Now this ninja was gonna bust his chops with thousand-year-old techniques of martial arts. Not to mention any other surprises he could have tucked away in that suit.

A chill shot through his spine and an icy breath forcefully exhaled through his mouth, Danny sighed, "Why don't all three of us become burdened with ghost superpowers so we all can take turns beating up the box ghost?"

Tucker closed the tab and article on The Norrisville Ninja, "What makes you so certain that it's Box Ghost?"

"Because today can't get any worse." Danny dove under the table, a bright flash of light and he was totally gone. Tucker and Sam would've covered for him normally but it was pretty crowded considering that it was the big county student switch. Everyone was distracted and abuzz with tinny rumors that sounded like the chatter of a lottery ball being picked.

Few lucky students from around the state were randomly chosen to… to deepen community ties? To broaden career opportunities? The goal of the program was unclear. Either way, a bunch of weirdos was picked from a bunch of weirdo schools, and they were supposed to stay for a week or two.

Paulina, Star, and Mikey so far had been switched.

Sam noticed that among the newcomers there was another goth. While she craved the comradery she didn't want to appear as if she was attempting to trend set. This week she didn't want an attempt at all, perhaps amid the hype of students, she could try to slip her phone number to this goth. But she didn't want to look as if she was hit up for friends with common interests.

This goth was dressed in a top hat with a bob cut, eyeliner, pale pearl foundation and long dark blazer which was the broke person's pass at steam goth. Sam admired the classy vintage style.

Her eyes following the hat being shuffled through the crowd. Manson shook Tucker's shoulder, "Tuck."

Tucker responded with a zombie-like," uh-huh."

Elbowing him sharply in the gut, "Tucker!"

"Jeez!" He grunted," What?"

"That steampunk goth kid is coming over here," She said in the most deadpanned excited voice.

Craning his neck Foley scanned the cafeteria before spotting the ugly hat, "Oh yeah, I guess that strange swinging pattern could be predetermined to be our direction."

Manson sharply pulled on his beret temporarily blinding him, "Smartass."

The crowd broke as a lanky Japanese kid broke through the mass of bodies, on his head a neatly decorated crushed navy blue velvet top hat with a shrunken skull adorned on the front with a singular feather poking out from it. His outfit was not immaculate, in fact, this kid looked like he had slept in his clothes the night before. Sure the clothes were dark but a bright red T-shirt with a narrow white stripe in the middle? It did not coalesce, Sam thought. The boy was positively effervescent with joy and happiness uncrushed by the capitalist system.

The Japanese kid ducked and weaved through the other lingering students, calling after someone," Cmon Julian! You almost had me that time!"

Immediately afterward the out of breath goth kid spilled out of the mouth of the crowd, "Randall! Please!"

"With Howard gone," he leads the goth kid to the front of Sam and Tucker's table so it felt like they had no choice but to listen in," you're gonna have to keep up with me. I'm gonna need a co-grave puncher, I'm gonna need a player two."

"I did not consent nor did I volunteer for that position!" The goth snatched his hat from the top of the taller kid's head.

"Oh! What if I called you Jules?" The boy slung his arm around the goth kid, "Y'know to cement the whole friend thing?" He spoke out the side of his mouth, "You kind of owes me after that doctor's note thing."

The goth shoved the boy away and stormed off, adjusting his hat and feather to be the most aesthetically dreary and gloomy.

Now alone, the boy snapped his head toward Sam and Tucker's table.

Sam refused to make eye contact, while Tucker the gardener of the grapevine of Casper high— the foreman of the rumor mill if you will— gawked unapologetically.

Ramming her boot into Tucker's shin, he yelped in pain and glanced down at the table. However, the damage had been done.

The boy inched his way between the seat and table," is this spot taken?"

"Yes!" "No!"

… Sam glared at Tucker as hard as she could manage without cracking her cakey foundation around her eyes.

"Uh… okay," he stuck out his hand, "Randy Cunningham, ninth grade."

"Tucker Foley, also ninth grade."

"Sam Manson, don't care."

Randy maneuvered deftly to the other side of Danny's tray, taking a seat. He grinned pleasantly closing his eyes